Thousands of Texans urge lawmakers to give up on abortion bill

2/31

Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

A look out the fourth floor of the capitol shows the large gathering at an abortion rights rally outside the state capitol before the legislative special session begins in Austin on Monday, July 1, 2013.

AUSTIN — Thousands of abortion-rights supporters greeted lawmakers as they convened another special session Monday to take up a list of hotly debated abortion restrictions, with Republicans vowing to move quickly to enact legislation derailed last week.

A rally in front of the Capitol featured Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. She became a national hero to women’s rights groups last week when her filibuster helped halt the abortion bill despite solid GOP majority support in the House and Senate.

“For years, too many Texas politicians have tried to boost their careers by bullying women who need help with health care,” Davis told the cheering crowd, estimated at more than 4,000 people. A much smaller number of abortion opponents turned up as well.

Overhead, an airplane circled the Capitol pulling a banner that read “Stand with Wendy.” Chants of “Wendy” rippled through the crowd as she spoke.

“Our state is in trouble,” she said. “Every single statewide office is held hostage by the kind of politician who cares more about their own future than that of their fellow Texans.”

Her primary target was Gov. Rick Perry, who called the special session after the abortion legislation failed twice. The GOP governor said Monday that the Legislature “is poised to finish its history-making work this year by passing legislation to protect the unborn and women’s health” as well as approve new transportation funding and juvenile justice reform.

“As we open the second special session, we must remember the people of Texas hired us to do our job, and that’s what we must do,” he said.

Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other Republican leaders remained confident they can win passage of the legislation this time around. Starting early in the 30-day special session will avoid the deadlines and rules that killed the measure in the two previous sessions.

Tuesday hearing

Both chambers quickly sent the GOP-backed abortion bill to the same committees that considered them last session. The first hearing — in the House State Affairs Committee — was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The measure would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It would impose new restrictions on abortion facilities and doctors who perform abortions. And in a new twist, a measure sent to a committee would create an offense for women seeking an abortion based on the sex of the fetus.

The plan is to move the legislation through the House first. The chamber may vote as early as next Tuesday to send the bill to the Senate.

In the upper chamber, Dewhurst dashed any hopes that Democrats might be able to stall the bill with Senate rules when he announced that he and the GOP majority would not enforce the “two-thirds rule” during the special session. The rule requires that portion of senators to support a bill for it to come up for debate.

Democrats hold 12 of 31 seats. Without the rule in place, they can’t do much to derail the bill.

“This is another tradition for the Senate that is gone,” said Senate Democratic Caucus chairman Kirk Watson of Austin. “Apparently we are in a new tradition, which unfortunately appears to be that if bills don’t pass in the regular session, we’ll change the tradition to jam them through” in a special session.

Dewhurst, responding to Watson’s questions about procedure, also made clear that he will not allow a replay of the raucous ending to the June special session. Abortion-rights supporters helped kill the bill with a loud demonstration in the Senate gallery as time ran out in the 30-day session.

“It is my hope that all visitors to the Capitol will follow our requests for decorum. If they are unable to do so, then we will have to clear the gallery in order to proceed,” Dewhurst said.

He emphasized that the Senate “will provide a reasonable opportunity for those who wish to express their views.” But that had little impact on visible tensions in the chamber between Democrats and Republicans.

In the House, Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, chairman of the state affairs committee, said he will limit testimony before his committee to about 81/2 hours on Tuesday, ending at midnight. Committee members will then vote on the legislation.

“As you recall, we heard these bills during the regular session, we heard them during the first called special session, so we’re now going on round three,” Cook said.

Ready to rally

The rally featured singer Natalie Maines, formerly of the Dixie Chicks. Planned Parenthood officials said that more than 5,000 people turned out.

Among those coming to Austin for the rally was Jill Selcer, 27, an emergency medical technician from Dallas. Like many of those in attendance, she wore an orange shirt.

“Wendy Davis brought so much publicity to this, and I’m so grateful,” she said. Calling the actions of Senate Republicans “deplorable” and “despicable,” she said Texas women “are fighting for the same rights as we were a century ago.”

Wrae Ann Bradford of Dallas watched last week’s filibuster unfold on a laptop in Boston. She said the friends she was visiting crowded around a computer to watch Davis for most of the day.

“It was all we were talking about,” said Bradford, 24, whose T-shirt featured a drawing of a uterus with the famous phrase “Come and Take It.”

So when she saw a special session was announced to begin on Monday, Bradford knew she had to go. She got in her car at 2 a.m. in Dallas and drove three hours to Austin.

Inside the Capitol, some abortion opponents dressed in blue T-shirts kneeled to pray in the center of the rotunda. Others stood on the side hoping not to be confronted by those in orange.

“If I was going to have an abortion, I would want this law passed,” said Austinite Linda Hart, 59, a retired state employee. “I wouldn’t want some quack doing an abortion on me. These people to me seem kind of silly … like we’re trying to take something away from them.”

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of former Gov. Ann Richards, told the crowd that the limitations in the bill went too far.

“We’re here today to say enough is enough,” she said, adding that those in attendance were united in their belief that “no governor gets to make personal decisions” for Texas women.

Democrats warned that the measure was likely to pass this time but urged protesters to keep future elections in mind.

“Make sure that when 2014 comes around, you send people back to this Legislature who are going to respect your rights,” said Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston, the longest-tenured Democrat in the House.

Staff writer Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report.

Follow Terrence Stutz on Twitter at @t_stutz and Brittney Martin at @beedotmartin.

tstutz@dallasnews.com;

bmartin@dallasnews.com

WHAT'S NEXT

Tuesday: A House committee holds a hearing on the abortion bill, starting at 3:30 p.m. and scheduled to go until midnight. Senate committees are also working Tuesday on transportation and juvenile justice measures. After that, lawmakers are expected to break for Independence Day.

Next week: The House and Senate return, with the full House expected to vote on the abortion measure and send it to the Senate.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.